


Bones - A Biography by Spock Grayson

by AlyssiaInWonderland



Series: Bones' Biographer [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst, Bittersweet, Bones is just a 'simple country doctor', Character Death, Dystopia, Early First Contact AU, Heavy Angst, So yeah, Spock is a biographer and a darling, Tags Are Hard, Vulcan contacts Earth during the First World War, and abortion is mentioned, but it gets better, but those are basically things that Bones heals/does to help people, just tagging those in case anyone needs to avoid that kinda thing is all, there is also mention of injuries, these tags are a mess im sorry, things go real badly for a while, who saves many lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-31 01:26:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12665442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssiaInWonderland/pseuds/AlyssiaInWonderland
Summary: Vulcan makes First Contact with Earth during the First World War. The war is brought to an armistice by the Vulcan contact, but when the Vulcans leave, with a small host staying without contact with the rest, to foster relations, Earth becomes insular and xenophobic beyond the scope of reason. A Resistance is formed, to act against the cruelty.Spock is intrigued by the mysterious Resistance member Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. He writes a biography of the man; this fic is a tour through excerpts of Spock's writings and his responses, visiting some of the people who Bones helped during the time when he worked for the Resistance.The real question is, is Spock's fixation merely fascination with the facts of Bones' life, or is it something more?





	Bones - A Biography by Spock Grayson

_Leonard Horatio McCoy was born to Elenora and David McCoy, in Georgia, USA. He married young, aged only 18, to Jocelyn McCoy, nee Darnell. They had a daughter soon after, suggesting a marriage of propriety. The daughter was named Joanna McCoy. Five years later, at the age of 23, Leonard was divorced by his wife.  He lost custody of his daughter, primarily due to the doubts thrown on his character due to his revoked conscription to the Great War; Doctors were needed in hospitals to heal the victims of the bombings rife at the time, but those who remained were frequently shunned by society at large._

_Later that year, Vulcan made first contact with Earth. This contact was, perhaps, ill-timed. During the Great War, in which xenophobia was bred as a security necessity, Vulcan sent its first envoy. It did not return. While the Great War was brought swiftly to an end, due to the armistice proposed by the Vulcans in order to ease inter-planetary relations, the atmosphere of distrust so prevalent amongst both Humans and Vulcans remained a constant. The Vulcans were prohibited from sharing their technology freely, out of fear of creating another, escalated conflict. The developments to healing and other areas of science were kept in the trust of a collated governing body; it was this body that would go on to become the gatekeeper for healing, against which Leonard was to rebel._

_In less than a year, the Vulcan envoys withdrew their presence from Earth, leaving only small groups of their species to foster and maintain relations with Earth. Ambassador Sarek, the only Vulcan remaining to have the facility to contact their home planet, endured an attack on his house that removed all his capacity to contact his people, save those already on Earth. With no capacity to barter further technology or safety, the Earth governing bodies became closed off, citing the right to deny service to any they deemed unfit to utilise public money on._

_Leonard McCoy lost his job as a Doctor at the government facility, the very day that Vulcans were officially banned from being received in Earth hospitals. He was reportedly instructed to turn away a young Vulcan child named T’Pring. She was seven years old, the same age as his own daughter. She was the last patient he treated at the hospital; upon finding out what he had done, he was fired._

_It was this event that directly led directly to his involvement with the Resistance._

Spock found himself irrationally intrigued by his research subject. History and ethics studies typically involved situations from many years in the past; in this instance he could easily see the impacts that the man about whom he wrote had wrought. He was, he knew, writing for only a small audience, and likely a Vulcan one. And yet, the fascination, the determination to seek out eyewitness accounts and tell the tale as accurately as possible, did not wane for a lack of encouragement. The events felt close enough as to be tangible. This sensation was not assuaged by the accounts that he came across; in particular, the humans that Leonard McCoy treated, tended towards a stark emotionality in relating their tales that lent itself to dramatism.

 

_Leonard McCoy was recruited to the Resistance by Pavel Chekov. Chekov was a young Russian, who worked with a man named Mongomery Scotty, as a recruiter and raider for the Resistance. Founded by Christopher Pike, and the Ambassador Sarek, the Resistance collected those who were opposed to the dictates of the government, and willing to fight to protect those targeted by its xenophobia. Leonard McCoy was swiftly taken on, trained and kitted out as a medic; as a cover, he took a job as a cab driver in San Francisco._

_Initially, Leonard worked alongside Chekov and Scotty, providing essential first aid to those turned away from hospitals. On requesting his motivations, Pavel Chekov was quoted to have said ‘Joining a Resistance is nothing new. We invented that in Russia, against the Tsars!’._

_Leonard saved Chekov’s life a month after they first met. Chekov, Leonard and Scotty all lived in a shared flat in San Francisco; Leonard had been taken in by the police for questioning directly from his cab shift. He had managed to get word to Scotty, who avoided their flat, but Chekov had not received the message in time. Once Leonard escaped his detainment, he had Scotty drive him as swiftly as possible to their flat._

_‘The apartment was still choked in mustard gas. I was quite hazy from the kicks the raiding police had given me, but I could still see. Leo looked like a fallen angel. I thought he was a spirit sent to take me to Death, but instead he took his wings and wrapped me in them and carried me out to the car. I fainted, and woke up at an underground base. The mustard gas was good quality. I think it was made in Russia.” – quote from Pavel Chekov._

_The ‘wings’ referred to in the quote, were in fact a large, damp white bedsheet that the Doctor used to stifle the effects of the gas on himself and his patient. However, the metaphor of the ‘fallen angel’ clearly struck an emotional chord with both Chekov and Scotty, the latter of whom was quoted to have said: ‘The lad was mad, that’s for sure. He came outta that house barely walking, with Pavel in his arms. It looked like he was carrying the boy right outta hell, yellow smoke and all.’ While Leonard McCoy’s most long-lasting moniker was to be ‘Bones’, the imagery of heaven and hell would also stick with the man throughout his time with the Resistance. First, as a fallen angel, or one rising up from hell. Later, as the angel of death, with only his bones to his name – which then indeed became his name. It seems more suitable, however, to think of him as an angel of life; he was surrounded by death, perhaps, but he always worked to sustain life where he could._

Spock frowned at his writing. The emotional tilt to the testimonies from Chekov and Scotty had taken root, and he wasn’t sure he was entirely satisfied with the resulting facts. The imagery was undeniably strong, almost primal in its intensity. He absently flicked through his papers to find a black and white image of Leonard – Doctor McCoy. He pictured the man, wreathed in swirls of yellow smoke, stark white bedsheet flapping loosely on either side of him where it fell loose from Chekov’s limp body. His hand gripped his pen so tightly that it snapped, and he watched the ink seep down his green-tinged hands, making no move to clear up the shattered plastic. The black ink pooled on the paper, shining in the dim light just as he imagined the blood dripping from Chekov’s body might have done.

 

_Janice Rand’s encounter with Leonard McCoy was after Chekov had been injured. Leonard and Scotty remained in San Francisco, continuing their work despite the repeated raids. They took to moving apartments regularly, to avoid police raids, although Leonard insisted that they maintain their visits to all the hospitals in the area._

_Janice was turned away from the hospital because she was unmarried and pregnant. She had heard of Leonard, through the quiet network of those in need, and she caught up with Leonard and Scotty just before they moved apartments yet again._

_‘He was so kind. I remember that most of all. He seemed gruff, scary, even a little angry at times, but he never was that way when talking to me, or any of the patients I saw him with. He seemed to know what we needed – who needed a firm hand and who needed a gentle one. He laid out all the facts, and gave me access to all the options I could have wanted. That man saved my life by doing that. Mine, and the potential life that would have been miserable. Adoption? I wouldn’t put an enemy through that kind of hell, let alone my own child, even if they were unwanted. It was early enough to just need a pill, thanks to the Vulcans. He put a hand on my back afterwards, as he walked me out. I think he knew I needed that. There was something of the empath about him.’ – Janice Rand._

_Typically, Humans rate as close to psi-null. However, regardless of Leonard McCoy’s potential empathic abilities, his actions frequently speak of at least an above average acuteness of perception; an uncommon compassion that was rare to find, particularly in such a fraught time. His capacity for empathy, psi-rated or otherwise, can be deemed highly admirable._

Spock found himself trying to research methods of identifying a person’s psi abilities without ever having physically met said individual. He dismissed all the studies he had found as unhelpful nonsense. His curiosity raged on, regardless of the dismissal.

 

_Leonard McCoy saved Hikaru Sulu when he was turned away from a hospital for having Japanese parents. Born and bred in San Francisco, but this meant nothing to the government of the time. Ill with the flu, and nowhere to live, Hikaru would have likely died on the streets if it were not for Leonard’s intervention. By this time, a full year into his time with the Resistance, Scotty had been moved to another location, to aid in raids for stealing healing and food supplies on transport trains._

_Leonard nursed Hikaru through the illness, despite his own growing ill-health. This was characteristic of the man; a stubborn insistence on putting his patients before even his own most basic needs. In equal parts remarkable and aggravating; however, it is certain that his incessant tendency towards blind altruism also made him the best Doctor in the Resistance. He determinedly carried Hikaru through his illness, giving up his own food to do so._

_‘I told him, when I was feeling lucid, that he should just look after himself and keep himself healthy to save more people than just me. He told me to shut up and get better quickly.” – Hikaru Sulu._

_As soon as Hikaru was capable of travel, Leonard sent him to the Resistance, where he became a vital member of the team piloting short range craft to carry supplies out to areas that needed them. It was soon after this that Leonard was to meet perhaps the most important man in his life._

Spock wondered at the affection in the recorded interview answer from Hikaru Sulu. Typically, telling a person to shut up did little to win their care. Leonard McCoy took those standards and upended them, leaving Spock confused, frustrated, and all kinds of impressed. He wanted to try and weigh the costs and benefits of Leonard’s insistence on looking after every person he possibly could, even to the detriment of his own health. Hikaru’s suggestion had been logically sound. So why was it that Spock felt Leonard would have been compromising his ideals if he had let Hikaru cope with his illness alone? Logic, Spock was beginning to realise, could only carry a person so far into ethical standards. There came a point at which the moral action conflicted with the logical one, and regardless of the possibility of calculating the precise probabilities of each scenario, he found that he could not fault Leonard’s decision. Base emotionality, coinciding with pure logic. It felt oddly fitting.

 

_It has frequently been speculated that Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy were lovers._

_Jim Kirk could have been turned away for any number of reasons – his Jewish heritage, his distinctly pansexual orientation, his unruly early years. Certainly, he was turned away for one of these things, and as many did, he found himself face to face with Leonard McCoy as he was thrown out of the revolving doors._

_They met a full two years after Leonard joined the Resistance – now aged 27, and a much changed man from the one early pictures show. His time spent changing apartment each month, living off rations and spending all his waking hours delivering medical care that was by its critical nature never going to have a 100% success rate; all these things had taken their toll. His body was comprised now mostly of angles, of bones and determination. The enclosed image, taken by Jim Kirk and dated just a few months after they met, may be taken as reference for this change. The writing dating the photograph is the first instance of the nickname ‘Bones’ in reference to the Doctor._

_Jim Kirk himself was suffering from multiple fractures to his right arm, legs and right ribs, injuries sustained in a spontaneous raid by government officials. Leonard healed him, over the course of a week, during which the two men bonded well. Jim was swiftly brought in to the Resistance, and became Leonard’s helper of sorts, acting as lookout, and supply-raid strategist. Leonard demonstrated a significant aversion to conflict, often becoming injured or detained in the line of his work. Jim Kirk rarely initiated altercations deliberately, however he gained many subsequent injuries in defence of his ‘Bones’. Leonard’s injury rate dropped by 68% once he was joined by Jim Kirk._

_Jim Kirk was caught, eight months after meeting Leonard, as he committed a raid to obtain medical supplies from a government hospital facility. He refused to talk about the Resistance, although he talked of Leonard at great length. The tapes themselves will not be enclosed for the sake of privacy and propriety._

_The tapes caught the moment that Leonard McCoy, with the backup of Scotty, raided the base in which Jim was being kept. He arrived in time to hold Jim as he died. It has previously been speculated that the men were lovers; this moment can be considered proof that they were also in love._

_Both Scotty and Leonard made it back out of the base unscathed. It was the first and only recorded instance where Leonard shot a man._

_‘‘Hey there, Bones. Always knew you were my angel. Come to save me, just like I’m not dying.’_

_‘Jim, y’ain’t allowed ta die on me, ya hear?’_

_‘Just don’t let them kill you too.’_

_‘Jim…dammit! God. God got nothin’ ta do with this. Jim!’’ – Excerpt from surveillance tapes; last conversation between Leonard McCoy and James T Kirk._

Spock looked up from his writing, distracted by a strange tickling sensation on his face. He reached up a hand to touch the source, and his hand came away wet. He hadn’t cried since he was a very young child. He closed his eyes, a dam against the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. The tapes played out against his eyelids, capturing his mind’s vision. Jim Kirk, handsome and laughing and so filled with life and love; for every interrogation he revealed another story about his ‘Bones’. 

Spock had learned how, for Jim, their relationship had felt just like breathing. How ‘Bones’ would sometimes come home with a single flower picked from a garden or a pavement, and how Jim would do his best to make sure that ‘Bones’ didn’t waste away while he did his job. Jim eventually talked about other things, too. The moment Jim started talking as if Leonard were in the room with him, his voice full of longing and pain and unconditional love, Spock stopped watching. He fast forwarded to the point where Leonard came to save him, and even listening to that last conversation, for historical record, felt intrusive, almost voyeuristic.

He hated himself for wanting to learn yet more about the smaller details, the little quirks that made up Leonard McCoy. Such things were irrelevant; furthermore, he could not conscience learning them through watching the taped interrogations of his lover. It would be unconscionable. There was a boundary, a line that had to be drawn. Biographer he might be, but every man was entitled to their private lives. Intruding on such pain and love with anything other than the essential facts would be tantamount to exploitative.

He ached to know more.

 

_Nyota Uhura and Christine Chapel were carried to a hospital in an ambulance, and turned away at the door. Still dressed in their partying outfits, they were both in bad shape; they had been attacked on the way back from their night out, at one of the Resistance-run bars. Leonard took them both in, tending to them and setting their broken bones, binding and slowly fixing the stab wounds. They were often lucid, and expressed a preference for being able to hold hands, at which Leonard reportedly rolled his eyes._

_‘He liked to tease us about holding hands. He called it ‘crazy puppy love’. Perhaps it was, but it still is now, even five years later. He never stopped us from holding hands, though. When we found out about Jim, we tried to stop, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Ranted about the ‘positive psychological effects’ that the hand-holding had on our recovery rate. I think he secretly thought we were cute.’ – Christine Chapel._

_Leonard did, in fact, submit a study on the relationship between emotional support and physical recovery rates, during this time. While it would not be published yet in government circles, the paper was widely circulated among those in the Resistance. Such phenomena were, intriguingly, not solely experienced by Human patients; Vulcans also benefitted from a calm environment for healing. While even three years later, this would seem to be common sense, it must be considered that, during the Great War, men who were sent back from the lines with PTSD were instead treated for ‘shell shock’, and often regarded as simply ‘weak’. The depth of emotional understanding required to connect emotional and mental state to the healing process was, particularly at that time, genuinely remarkable._

_This paper was written while he cared for Christine and Nyota; they remained with him for a further week, awaiting transport to another area of the country, where the Resistance held a hideout safe for those who were turned away elsewhere._

_‘There was something almost haunted in his eyes when he watched us together. He let us stay for longer than we needed so we could get a way out. Sometimes I wonder if he was trying to make up for not being able to save Jim, by saving us instead. He was a good man. But he seemed so lonely. And so very tired.’ – Nyota Uhura._

_It was shortly after this, on his 28 th birthday, that Leonard McCoy began making raids to collect medical supplies himself. This decision can be directly related to the date of his diagnosis of xenopolycythemia._

Spock knew that is was irrational to wish to comfort a man for an event long passed; he couldn’t help but imagine himself trying to help Leonard through it in any case. He was hovering in the realm of conjecture now, not hard fact, but he suspected that Leonard would not have particularly minded death. His increasingly daring raids for medical supplies indicated a level of disregard for his physical health that had before been passable as simply altruism.

Despite knowing that a cure for the disease was found, Spock wished that he could have been there. Leonard did not have the benefit of that foresight, and while he knew the outcome of each supply run, his blood ran cold as he read of every near miss, every capture and subsequent release. Imagining Leonard, in such emotional upheaval that he would risk himself so carelessly, felt almost physically painful to Spock. He found himself wanting to skip over the section in his writing, though he read the records of the raids compulsively anyway.

 

_In the months that followed his diagnosis, before his condition deteriorated, Leonard McCoy ran regular medical supply runs and raids throughout San Francisco. He was detained by the police eight times in as many months. His condition deteriorated further, rendering him unable to care for those in his purview. He contacted the Resistance, and another, Doctor Geoffry M’Benga, was sent to help Leonard, both with his work and as a patient. The man sent Leonard back to the main Resistance base, driven across the country by Scotty, his old friend. Leonard went with uncharacteristically little protest._

_‘He looked tired. Gaunt, and he never wanted any help carrying his bags either. Stubborn to the core. He seemed just about ready to drop. Luckily, a cure was sourced for him about a week after he arrived. His recovery took ages, and he got frustrated a lot, for sure. But by the time he hit 29, he was almost back to normal.’ – Montgomery Scotty._

_Leonard was quoted as having little energy for the bulk of his recovery period. Typically wilful and burning with energy, the months spent listless and unresponsive, might easily be read as a delayed reaction to the many traumas he had endured. However, eventually he bounced back. In fact, he recovered fully just weeks before his redeployment into the field was interrupted by an emergency patient._

_Leonard had been on a walk; a habit acquired to help ease his recovery. It was winter, and the cold was bitter enough that he wore a coat. He quite literally bumped into Amanda Grayson. She was wearing no coat, and she apologised to him profusely through her shivers. He moved to give her his own jacket, and she collapsed. He caught her, and carried her back to the Resistance base._

_‘I had hypothermia – easy enough to treat if you have the supplies, which I didn’t at the time. Bones saved my life by helping me. I was just some random woman on the street to him, but he took me directly to the Resistance base. It was a huge risk, but he did it without thinking of the alternative option. He even sat with me when I met Ambassador Sarek for the first time. Sarek wanted to make sure I wasn’t a spy. Funny how these things work out.’ – Amanda Grayson._

_‘The Doctor had a propensity to attempt to save any life, no matter the danger or cost to himself. This tendency made him both an asset and a liability in the Resistance. He was, without exception, an outstanding and dedicated member.’ – Ambassador Sarek._

Spock could imagine the scene all too easily. Leonard hovering protectively by a still frail Amanda, and Sarek questioning the young woman who would go on to become his wife. He wondered if Leonard had known that Amanda survived; he had been sent back to San Francisco before she fully recovered. He wondered if Leonard knew just how much he had changed the future when he brought Amanda back to the Resistance base.

He wondered if Leonard knew that his eyes were the most compelling eyes Spock had ever seen, or that he really was as heroic as his own Jim had claimed him to be.

He wondered if Leonard would ever love again.

 

_Leonard McCoy was recorded as having treated several patients in San Francisco after he left the Resistance base. He continued moving apartment regularly, and had monthly meetings with Scotty, his primary Resistance contact._

_One month, Leonard did not turn up to his check-in. Many attempts were made to contact and locate him, but he had simply vanished. His disappearance was never filed officially with the police, as it was suspected by many that the police could have been involved. Perhaps he became injured or ill when treating a patient, and simply did not make it._

_Leonard’s apartment was still fully stocked, with no appearance of having been raided. What happens, despite extensive research, remains a mystery._

 

Not knowing what had happened gnawed at Spock’s awareness incessantly. He told himself that it was merely professional curiosity. He told himself that Vulcans did not lie.

Vulcans did lie, particularly to themselves. Spock couldn’t lie to himself any more. He was irrevocably in love with Doctor Leonard McCoy.

He took a deep breath. He was Vulcan. He would endure.

 

_Leonard McCoy was a Doctor who lived over 100 years ago, but the impact of his work lasts to this day. This story was pieced together from witness accounts. And I can truthfully say that, despite the years between his life and mine, he has shaped my own life also._

_This biography was written by Spock Grayson, who is now a Professor of History and Ethics at San Francisco University_

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was an idea conceived while chatting to some friends. I'm not sure if this is the most well-organised of pieces, and it's an unusual break from the type of thing I tend to write!
> 
> I hope it was still enjoyable!
> 
> There is a Part 2 in the works, never fear!
> 
> As ever, comments and kudos feed my eternally hungry and dark soul <3
> 
> Thank y'all for reading!!


End file.
